Chloe Bennet Says “Hollywood Is Racist” In Response To Her Name Change

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. actress Chloe Bennet took to Instagram to praise Ed Skrein for exiting the Hellboy reboot after a whitewashing backlash, but one commenter decided to put the focus on the Chinese-American actress, criticizing her for changing her name to Chloe Bennet from her birth name Chloe Wang.

The user comment has since been deleted, but Bennet shot back and said that “Changing my name doesn’t change the fact that my BLOOD is half Chinese, that I lived in China, speak Mandarin or that I was culturally raised both American and Chinese.” She adds, “It means I had to pay my rent, and Hollywood is racist and wouldn’t cast me with a last name that made them uncomfortable.” Read the full — and blunt — comment below.

Bennet has been very vocal when it comes to being an advocate for representation and inclusion in the industry — specifically on social media. In regards to Skrein’s departure from Hellboy, she commented on Hollywood’s “continuous insensitivity and flippant behavior towards the Asian American community” and said that his move to leave the project was an “impactful step forward.” Skrein was cast as the Asian American character Major Ben Daimio last week in the upcoming Hellboy: Rise Of The Blood Queen. After an outcry from the Asian American community, he took to Twitter to announce that he would be stepping down from the role.